Bilal Hafeez – Insights That Will Make You Happier…Hopefully!

How Intellectuals Date

I’ve been reading the London Review Of Books for years. It features literary essays with titles like “Neanderthals, Denisovians and Modern Humans“, “On Not Being Sylvia Plath“, and “What’s It Like To Be an Octopus“. So you can imagine it attracts the intellectual-type.

What is even better is that it also has a personals section for readers seeking dates. Compared to other means of dating, which rely more on swipes then reading, the quality of writing is much much better. Check these out:

Do You Understand English?!

If Shakespearean English is the benchmark, then not many of us know English. Even simple interactions sound odd and wordy. Take the opening of Hamlet:

50 Practical Life Tips For 2019

The internet is full of junk, but every now and then you discover something that harnesses the full power of the internet. That something is the “LifeProTips” thread on the discussion site, Reddit. The thread allows people to post practical life tips, which others can upvote. Over the past year, I’ve discovered useful tips like:

“When using a public bathroom, choose the first stall” (research shows people go for the middle or last ones)
“Keep cookies soft by storing them in an air-tight container with a slice of bread. Cookies will absorb the moisture from the bread, staying ultra-soft for up to two weeks!”
“Boarding a Southwest Airlines flight [or any airline without allocated seating] and want to keep the seat next to you open? Pull the vomit bag from the seat pocket, hold it in your hand, and rest your head on the back of the seat in front of you. No one wants to sit near someone puking” (sounds cool, haven’t tried it yet)

To share the wisdom, I’ve collated the top 50 most upvoted tips of all-time:

My 5 Most Read Blogs Of 2018

I’ve been writing blogs for almost four years now and this year I written almost 50. I’ve checked the stats and I’ve had 45,000 hits on my site in 2018(!). The 5 most popular were:

My Favourite Books/Movies/Apps Of 2018, What’s Yours?

The year is almost over, so it’s time to send my list of favourites for the year: books, magazines, movies, TV and apps. I’m sure I’ve missed much, so let me know what you liked, and if I get enough, I‘ll send out a readers list!

Poison Envy

It’s one of the seven deadly sins and in some traditions it’s thought to be the root of all evil. Aristotle defined it as feeling pain at the good fortune of others. Immanuel Kant extended the definition to include aiming at destroying others’ good fortune. Contemporary society, however, rarely talks about envy, perhaps because consumerism is fuelled by it. This is all the more reason to shine a light on it. Continue reading “Poison Envy”

What I Learnt From An Unexpected US Mid-West Adventure (3 min read)

Mongolia. Bolivia. Pine Ridge (South Dakota, US). What do these 3 places have in common? Well, the average income per person is around $3,500 per year. Yes, you read that correct – there are places in the US with the same income levels as a Third World country. I learnt that during a recent holiday in the US, where I first visited Las Vegas to see some family that live there. While Las Vegas has its own unique sense of aesthetics that seem to pop up in deserts, I did feel the need to have a time-out from Vegas. So I worked out which part of the US is the poorest, and decided to visit it. It turns out to be the aforementioned Pine Ridge in South Dakota. Continue reading “What I Learnt From An Unexpected US Mid-West Adventure (3 min read)”

My 5 Best Purchases Of the Year So Far

I’m not a big shopper, but I do occasionally stumble across something that makes a genuine difference to my day-to-day life. Here are five from this year:

1) Netgear RBK50 Mesh Wifi System (£289)

I have a house with thick walls, so there is no chance the WiFi network from my router can span the whole house. In the past, I used an adapter that plugged into the electric sockets to extend the network. The problem was each plug created its own wifi zone, so I ended up with 5 zones in the house. This prevented me from connecting all my devices via wifi, which was a pain. Continue reading “My 5 Best Purchases Of the Year So Far”

The Subversive Origin Of the Monopoly Board Game (3 min read)

We’ve all played Monopoly. You go around the board, try to accumulate sets of properties (ideally the green and dark blue ones), build hotels and then drive everyone else into bankruptcy. It can often drag on and on, but it’s worth the wait if it means you defeat your siblings. But did you know that this celebration of monopolistic capitalism was actually based on a game that was meant to show the evils of monopolies?! Continue reading “The Subversive Origin Of the Monopoly Board Game (3 min read)”

The Joy Of Communal Singing (3 min read)

I can’t sing. I can’t play a instrument. And if I have choice between listening to music or a podcast, I pick the latter. Yet, I know that being too “heady” is not healthy. So I’m always trying to find activities that are physical (like running ) or artistic (like painting) as an offset. But my latest activity has to be my bravest yet – attending a singing workshop! Continue reading “The Joy Of Communal Singing (3 min read)”